I abandoned my dream of an autumn European vacation and instead went to play close to home -- in Olympic National Park. It was a low-budget and gorgeous getaway on Washington's far side that cost me about $500 for the four-day trip including accommodations, food and gas from Seattle.
By Kristin Jackson | November 9, 2008
It might strike you as curious that the Olympic Peninsula, noted for its natural wild settings, also is jammed with recent history. Though Spaniards explored the peninsula by sea starting in the late 1700s, this is one of the last places in the continental United States to be settled. Just 150 years ago, the entire Olympic Peninsula was wilderness. Perhaps that's why history here seems so tangible.
By Greg Johnston | April 10, 2008
I braced myself for the infamous "Catwalk," catching my breath as I peered over the edge of the exposed knife-sharp ridge.
It dropped steeply on both sides. Thousands of feet below, the Hoh River caressed and deepened the U-shaped valleys as it meandered around Mount Olympus.
A mountain goat that followed us eyed me with suspicion, likely wondering why I was blocking a path he so obviously had marked as his own.
I wondered that, too, as I picked my way across the steep ridge connecting Cat Peak with Mount Carrie.
By Phuong Cat Le | October 6, 2005
Hike of the Week
Lower Gray Wolf Trail No. 834 in the Olympic National Forest is more an experience than a workout hike. Despite road building and extensive logging, the Lower Gray Wolf River is protected and this section of the forest still feels wild and primitive.
Most of this section of the river lies within the Buckhorn Wilderness Area -- the Upper Gray Wolf is within Olympic National Park.
By Karen Sykes | March 31, 2005
QUINAULT RAIN FOREST -- The black spot at the base of the mossy old bigleaf maple turned its head and looked as our party of five made its way down the trail through the meadow.
Fifty yards off, its fur was shiny black, as vivid as the greens of the grass, wood sorrel and vanilla leaf plants that carpeted the lush meadowy rain forest.
"Is it a cub?" Jean asked. "It's a cub."
"It isn't a cub," said Terry.
"Maybe a yearling," Bryn said.
The bear looked at us, then up into the tree, then at us, then back up the tree.
By Greg Johnston | June 24, 2004
Water is the stuff of life, but it seems bigger than life somehow. It can cleave stone; it can soothe and soften. It can be calm or raging, icy cold or boiling hot, murky or transparent.
For an artist, water is all that and more; it is constantly moving, reflects crazily everything on its surface, and appears to warp objects below its surface. It has more color, more light, more vibrancy than any pigments yet created. It shimmers, it shimmies.
It's maddening
This mercurial, Mad Hatter quality of water makes it irresistibly fascinating to paint.
By Paul Schmid | June 11, 2004
Sheltered by the peaks that form the heart of the range, the eastern flank of the Olympic Mountains gets less precipitation -- and for some reason less attention -- than the more famous approaches on the west side.
But they're every bit as spectacular, and for springtime hikers hungry to dust off their gear, several trails in the eastern Olympics open early enough to provide a taste of the backcountry, even while many of the state's more popular hikes still are buried under snow.
By Andrew Engelson | April 22, 2004
Basking in the warm sun, watching the blue waves pound the beach, I occasionally reminded myself that I had a job to do, so I'd punch my brush into the mound of cerulean blue again and laugh. Not a bad way to spend a workday!
Painting outdoors in the Pacific Northwest can be a miserable experience, especially if, like me, one has a love for the leaden gray skies and muted hues of our rainy winters.
But during a moment like this, the days of chilled fingers and wet feet are cheerfully forgiven.
By Paul Schmid | April 9, 2004
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK I've driven to Hurricane Ridge before, but never like this, never with traveling companions of this caliber: an anthropologist, a naturalist and poet, a couple of park rangers and two Native American storytellers.
By Connie McDougall | September 11, 2003
Short Trips
From its perch on a snag near the shoreline, a mature male bald eagle scopes out the placid waters of Ozette Lake in Olympic National Park.
Deep forests line the shore of the lake once was homesteaded by Scandinavians in the late 1800s -- settlements that were soon abandoned.
But the Ozette Lake vicinity, which includes the famous Ozette archaeological dig at Cape Alava on the coastal part of the park, is most notable for its Native American heritage and culture as well as magnificent ocean beaches.
By Jeff Larsen | April 3, 2003
